CTNS is pleased to update you on the progress of Campaign to fund the Ian G. Barbour Chair in Theology and Science.

As of March 1, 2008, the gifts and pledges of our generous supporters have brought the fund to an impressive $1,999,200!
We are optimistic that with current supporters honoring pledges and new partners participating in this campaign, we will reach our goal of $2.5 million by the end of 2009.

Thank you to our supporters for your help in establishing a permanent on-going teaching program in theology and science at the Graduate Theological Union!

If you are considering making a donation to the Chair fund, please visit /www.ctns.org/chair/campaign.html, where you will see both a brief picture of the inspiration for and vision of the Chair, as well as the impact CTNS-sponsored graduate education has had on many students at the GTU over the past twenty-six years of CTNS teaching. The Barbour Chair will ensure that future generations of faculty and students may enter into the constructive dialogue between faith and science and be empowered for research, teaching and ministry.

CTNS-STARS Awards Five $100,000 Grants for Research in
Science and Ultimate Reality

In mid-December 2007, CTNS-STARS announced the five interdisciplinary teams who were awarded $100,000 each in research grants. "I am delighted with the extraordinary quality and ground-breaking approaches to interdisciplinary research by these five winning teams," said Robert John Russell, STARS Principal Investigator and the Ian G. Barbour Professor of Theology and Science In-Residence at the Graduate Theological Union. "Their proposed research is at the center of a wide range of scientific research spanned by STARS: from fundamental physics and evolutionary biology to the neurosciences and mathematics. The implications for our understanding of human spirituality, ethics, aesthetics and religion are very promising."

To "meet" each team and their consultants, click on the team's project title below. The teams are listed
alphabetically by one of the Team's Co-PIs.

Yakir Aharonov

Gennaro Auletta

Warren Brown

Raymond Chiao

Andrew Robinson

Recipients of $100,000 STARS Research Grants

Subjective Experience as a Window on Foundational PhysicsYakir Aharonov, Distinguished Professor of Theoretical Physics, Center for Quantum Studies, George Mason University (Co-Principal Investigator) Jeffrey Tollaksen, Assistant Professor, Founder and Director, Center for Quantum Studies, George Mason University
(Co-Principal Investigator)
David Albert, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Columbia University
Paul Davies, College Professor and Director of Beyond: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science,
Arizona State University
Brian Greene, Professor, Department of Mathematics and Department of Physics, Columbia University
Maulik Parikh, Assistant Professor, Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics

On the Reality of Top-Down CausationGennaro Auletta, Director of the Specialization "Science and Philosophy", Pontifical Gregorian University (Co-Principal Investigator) Luc Jaeger, Assistant Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara (Co-Principal Investigator)
Paolo D'Ambrosio, Doctoral Student, Pontifical Gregorian University
George Ellis, Emeritus Professor, University of Cape Town
William Stoeger, Staff Scientist, Vatican Observatory, Associate Professor, University of Arizona

Information and the Origin of LifeAndrew Robinson, Honorary University Fellow, University of Exeter (Co-Principal Investigator) Christopher Southgate, Research Fellow, University of Exeter (Co-Principal Investigator)

The 2008 J. K. Russell Research Fellowship in Religion and Science with
George V. Coyne, S.J.

Dr. Coyne of the Vatican Observatory is the 2008 Research Fellow. You are invited to join us for events taking place in Berkeley,
March 15-18, 2008.

The annual J. K. Russell Research
Fellowship was created in memory of John K. Russell (1896-1958). Mr. Russell, father of CTNS Founder and Director, Robert John Russell, was born of Italian immigrants, and worked as an industrial engineer and humanitarian.

Research Conference

On Saturday March 15th, Dr. Coyne will present "Twenty Years After the New View from Rome: Pope John Paul II on Science and Religion" at the all-day research conference. Gabriele Gionti, Nathan Hallanger, Oliver Putz, Robert John Russell and Richard Schenk will present their responses to Coyne's work.

In his preface to the book, Physics, Philosophy and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding (PPT), the publication of which became the inspiration and the guiding beacon for the series of conferences on divine action which ensued over a period of twenty years, George Coyne insisted that scholars were about to engage in a "small beginning." That small beginning was a conference held at the Vatican Observatory in 1987 at the request of Pope John Paul II to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the publication of Isaac Newton's Principia. One of the first steps in that small beginning was the publication in that PPT volume of an outstanding message of John Paul II on the interaction between the culture of religious faith and that of science. The Pope says, for instance, directing himself to the scientists, philosophers and theologians whose research is contained in the PPT volume: "You are called to learn from one another, to renew the context in which science is done and to nourish the inculturation which vital theology demands. Each of you has everything to gain from such an interaction, and the human community which we both serve has a right to demand it from us."

Dr Coyne's bio, lecture abstracts, registration details and more information can be found at www.ctns.org/jkr_fellow/.html. You may print a registration form from the website to fax or mail to CTNS.

Conference general registration is $45; (Discounted to $35 for Student or Senior -62 or over).Registration for CTNS Members is only $35; (Discounted to $20 for Student or Senior current CTNS members).

A box lunch is included for those who register by March 11.

Walk-ins registration are welcome as space allows and you may bring your lunch or walk to a nearby cafe..

Public Forum Lecture

Dr. Coyne will present his Fellow's Public Forum on Tuesday, March 18, at 7:00 pm, co-sponsored by CTNS and the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

In addition, Dr. Coynes will be a guest professor in the CTNS-GTU Spring Course, "Evolution, Evil, and Eschatology" on March 20.

The CTNS 2007-2008 Charles H. Townes Graduate Student Fellowship

In 2003, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) created a new Fellowship program for doctoral research in theology and science at the GTU. The Fellowship is named in honor of Charles H. Townes, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-discovery of the maser and the laser. Professor Townes is Professor of Physics in the Graduate School at U.C. Berkeley, has served on the CTNS Board of Directors for over a decade and is an active member of First Congregational Church, Berkeley. The purpose of the Fellowship is to honor doctoral students who have demonstrated clear ability to do very promising research on issues related to theology and science. The selection is based on academic excellence. Students in any Area of the GTU doctoral program whose research focuses on theology and science are eligible to apply. Two modest awards each year are offered: one for a student who is working on the comprehensive exams at an advanced level (the equivalent of the "special comprehensive exams" in the Area of Systematic and Philosophical Theology) and one who has finished their comprehensive exams and is working on their dissertation or dissertation proposal. Submit your best paper and CV to CTNS by March 10, 2008.

The Fellowships will be announced on March 15th at the J. K. Russell Research Fellowship Conference. For details, visit www.ctns.org/news_021208.html

Cosmology from Alpha to Omega
Readers of the CTNS E-news already know the significance of Dr. Robert Russell's life-work in science and theology, founding CTNS, teaching and writing for over 25 years. Now readers may delve into the depths of his work by reading Cosmology from Alpha to Omega: the Creative Mutual Interaction of Theology and Science, published by Fortress Press in their theology and the sciences series.

Russell takes theology and science beyond mere dialogue into genuinely new relations: "creative mutual interaction" in these chapters. The theological topics range from God, creation, suffering in nature, and the theological significance of life in the universe to an eschatology involving the transformation of the universe into the new creation based on the bodily Resurrection of Jesus. Scientific topics include the Big Bang, inflation and quantum cosmologies, relativity, quantum mechanics, molecular and evolutionary biology, exobiology, and the modern mathematics of infinity. (Augsburg Fortress Press, 2008) ISBN: 9780800662738

First Volume in New Collaborative Series on Problem of Natural Evil
The Vatican Observatory / CTNS collaboration has produced a new volume, Physics and Cosmology: Scientific Perspectives on the Problem of Natural Evil. This volume is edited by Nancey Murphy, Robert John Russell and William Stoeger, S.J.

These essays resulted from the seventh international research conference co-sponsored by the Vatican Observatory and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Previous conferences focused on the problem of divine action. This is the first in a series on the problem of natural evil—on reconciling suffering caused by natural processes with God's goodness. Section headings and a sampling of authors include: "Historical Definitions, and Typologies" (representative chapters by Niels Christian Hvidt; Terrence W. Tilley; Wesley J. Wildman; and Christopher Southgate and Andrew Robinson), "Scientific and Philosophical Responses" (William R. Stoeger, S.J., Robert John Russell, Nancey Murphy, Thomas Tracy, Philip Clayton and Steven Knapp), "Responses: The God-World Relation" (Kirk Wegter-McNelly, Denis Edwards) and "Changing the Terms of the Debate," (Brad J. Kallenberg, and Don Howard).
(Vatican Observatory – CTNS, 2007), distributed in the USA by the University of Notre Dame Press (www3.undpress.nd.edu/) ISBN: 978-88-209-7959-1.

To view on-line chapter summaries from the first five volumes of the CTNS-Vatican Observatory collaboration, visit www.ctns.org/books.html.

The Evolution of Evil Edited by Gaymon Bennett, Martinez J. Hewlett, Ted Peters and Robert John Russell. Now available.

Neuroscience and Religion
CTNS associate, Dr. Mark Graves' new book, Mind, Brain and the Elusive Soul: Human Systems of Cognitive Science and Religion grew out of his M.A. thesis and the course he and Bob Russell taught in 2005 on "Theology, the Person & Neuroscience". The book covers issues such as: Does science argue against the existence of the human soul? Many scientists and scholars believe the whole is more than the sum of the parts. This book uses information and systems theory to describe the "more" that does not reduce to the parts. One sees this in the synapses—or apparently empty gaps between the neurons in one's brain—where informative relationships give rise to human mind, culture, and spirituality. Drawing upon the disciplines of cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience, general systems theory, pragmatic philosophy, and Christian theology, Dr. Graves reinterprets the traditional doctrine of the soul as form of the body to frame contemporary scientific study of the human soul. (Ashgate , 2008).
ISBN: 978-0-7546-6226-6.

Graves has taught at CTNS-GTU and organizes a cognitive science and religion program with faculty at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) and the University of California, Berkeley. This book draws upon his 20 years of experience in interdisciplinary research. Graves studied cognitive science at Georgia Tech before earning a doctorate in computer science/artificial intelligence at the University of Michigan. He is currently a Scholar in Residence at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.
Visit the Ashgate website for more information www.ashgate.com

Forthcoming: Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action: Twenty Years of Challenge and Progress
Edited by
Robert John Russell, Nancey Murphy and William Stoeger, S.J.
(CTNS-Vatican Observatory - Vatican City State) 2007. ISBN: 978-88-209-7961-4.

Featured here is the Table of Contents of the current edition of Theology and Science, Volume 6 Number 1 / February 2008.

If you are not yet a CTNS member, you may join anytime in 2008 until November 15 to receive all four issues of Volume 6. Visit the CTNS website for details and to sign up: www.ctns.org/membership.html or call CTNS between the hours of 9 am and 5 pm, Pacific Time (510) 848-8152. CTNS members receive both the printed version of Theology an Science and on-line access, access to 22 issues of the CTNS Bulletin and the Members's version of the CTNS E-News, and other benefits.

Dialogues
Celia Deane-Drummond, "Shadow Sophia in Christological Perspective: The Evolution of Sin and the
Redemption of Nature"
James W. Haag, "Freedom and Morality in Nonhuman Animals: Comparative Difficulties"
Nathan J. Hallanger, "Response to ‘Shadow Sophia in Christological Perspective: The Evolution of Sin
and the Redemption of Nature'"
William O'Neill, S. J., "Reflections on Evolutionary Theodicy: A Response to ‘Shadow Sophia in Christological Perspective'"
Robert John Russell, "Can We Hope for the Redemption of Nature?: A Grateful Response to Celia Deane-Drummond"
Celia Deane-Drummond, "Shadow Sophia in Christological Perspective: A Reply to Responses"

For instructions for on-line access to the Theology and Science articles see “Member News” below.

Scholars wishing to submit articles for consideration to Theology and Science may contact the Managing Editor, James Haag, Ph.D., by emailing theology-science@ctns.orgor by writing to Theology and Science, CTNS, 2400 Ridge Rd., Berkeley, CA 94709, USA.

If you are interested in writing a book review or submitting books for review, contact Nathan Hallanger, Book Review Editor, via email: bookreviews@ctns.org or call 510-649-2481 Monday-Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm PDT.

Have you heard about GoodSearch? If not, it's basically a search engine powered by Yahoo which allows you to raise money for the nonprofit organization of your choice. You may enter "CTNS" into the "Who do you Goodsearch for?" box, then do a word search as your would with any search engine. Check it out at: www.goodsearch.com, as you enter CTNS into the box, you will be earning money for CTNS! If enough friends use this engine, we could build up a nice fund to help support the center!

"There's no reason not to. You search---They give." So next time you do a search, try using GoodSearch to help add to the CTNS fund!

Staff News

CTNS-STARS at AAAS Meeting

AAAS Representation

Dennis Hair (center) the STARS Program Director, represented CTNS and the STARS program at the recent American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meetings in Boston, MA. He participated in the booth of the
Ecumenical Roundtable on Science, Technology and the Church.

Bob Russell Speaks to Various Groups in Early 2008

Inaugural Ian G. Barbour LectureThe inaugural Ian G. Barbour Lecture at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota was delivered on January 16 by Dr. Robert
Russell. The lecture was titled "Five Issues on the Frontier of Science and Religion: Ian Barbour's Lasting Impact
on the Dialogue."

From 1978-1981, Bob Russell was Assistant Professor of Physics at Carleton.

Dr. Barbour is Professor of Physics and Professor of Religion, and the Winifred and Atherton Bean Professor Emeritus of Science,
Technology and Society at Carleton. He is respected as the unparalleled pioneer in the science and religion dialogue, having
written Issues in Science and Religion in 1966 which launched the recent scholarly study in the field.

"Chico Triad" participates in Northern California Conference
Bob Russell was the guest of Rev. Dr. Greg Cootsona, (GTU Ph.D., and Associate Pastor for Adult Discipleship) and the "Chico Triad on Philosophy, Theology, and Science" a Local Societies Initiative (LSI) group partially funded by a grant by Metanexus Institute. Bob addressed the topic, "Key Issues in Science in Religion Today" at Bidwell Presbyterian Church on February 1st and 2nd. The Friday evening public lecture hosted 160 attendees. On Saturday, a conference took place with more in-depth lectures and Q & A sessions, with Dr. Cootsona moderating and participating. The LSI group studied Bob's recent book, Cosmology from Alpha to Omega, for the two months prior to his visit which resulted in a stimulating and exciting discourse.

Greg Cootsona

Robert Russell

Church Science and Religion Discussion Group Hosts Bob Russell in nearby Lafayette, California
Meetings of the Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church Science and Religion Discussion Group have been held over the past several years, and many fascinating issues and topics have been discussed. On February 18, 2008 the group welcomed Bob Russell, from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, who lectured to a packed audience including a forty-five minute audience discussion. The topic of Bob';s presentation was "Big Bang Cosmology, Resurrection and Christian End Times: Is the Resurrection and the Christian End Times transformation of the world compatible with our scientific understanding of the universe?" Bob began with the apparent conflict between Christian hopes for a New Creation and scientific predictions of a future that is "freeze or fry." He then argued that this conflict is actually not between theology and science but between theology and the philosophical assumption that the predictions of science must come true. If God's ongoing action as continuous creator of the universe is what underlies the regularities of nature on which science is based, and if God will act in radically new ways to bring about Christian hopes for the consummation of the universe and its transformation in the promised New Creation as promised with the Resurrection of Christ, then scientific predictions for "freeze or fry" simply don't hold. Bob then listed several potential scientific research programs that could be pursued in light of Christian hopes for the New Creation. Details of his lecture can be found in Ch. 10 of his latest book, Cosmology from Alpha to Omega: The creative mutual interaction of theology and science (Fortress Press). Leading this group are CTNS members, Ed Schoenberger and John Turpin.

Recent Events

Second Annual KIATS-KSA-CTNS Conference
On February 8, CTNS co-hosted the second biennial conference on theology and science with the Korean Institute on Advanced Theological Study (KIATS) and the GTU Korean Student Association (KSA). Representatives from KSA, and KIATS, including KIATS president, Dr. JaeHyun Kim from Korea, gave welcomes. Nathan Hallanger, CTNS Program Director, moderated the conference, welcoming speakers, Ted Peters, Robert Russell, Koo Dong Yun and Taeil Bai.

CTNS Winter Public Forum
Recent graduate in the GTU doctoral program, Whitney Bauman presented a CTNS Public Forum on February 19, titled, "God:Creation::Culture:Nature: Challenging the Logic of Domination in Creatio Ex Nihilo" with 30 guests in attendance. An abstract of his lecture can be found at www.ctns.org/news_010908.html

Network News

Announcements here are included as a courtesy.

Conferences

"Beauty: The Color of Truth," International Aesthetics Conference, May 29-June 1, 2008, Berkeley, California. Hosted by the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Email aesthetics@jstb.edu.
Call (510) 549-5000 or visit the website: www.jstb.edu

CTNS Member, Gloria Schaab, SSJ, Ph.D. has released her newest book titled The Creative Suffering of the Triune God: An Evolutionary Theology, with a Foreword by Arthur R. Peacocke. (Oxford University Press, 2007). The book details Schaab's interpretation of the ongoing dialogue of theology and science concerning the problem of suffering. For information, visit the Oxford University website: www.oup.com/uk/

CTNS Associates, Ted Peters and Marty Hewlett, along with long-time CTNS member, Walter Hearn, contributed chapters to a new book titled, Darwin and the Bible: The Cultural Confrontation, edited by Richard H. Robbins and Mark Nathan Cole (Penguin Academics, 2008). Walter Hearn contributed chapter 2, "Creation Matters," and Martinez Hewlett and Ted Peters contributed chapter 3, "The Science of Evolution and the Theology of Creation". In Darwin and the Bible: The Cultural Confrontation, authors help readers understand the nature, history, and passions behind the debate between scientific and religious versions of creation and human origin. Rather than focusing solely on scientific backgrounds, the text's chosen readings provide historical, theological, social, and political backgrounds as well. The book can be found at www.amazon.com.

Berkeley Screening of the New Documentary, Renewal

Renewal is the first feature-length documentary to capture the breadth and vitality of America's religious-environmental movement, followed by a conversation led by the Reverend Sally Bingham (The Regeneration Project: www.renewalproject.net/film) and Dr. Martha Ellen Stortz (Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary). Thursday, April 24, 2008, 6:30-8:30pm, Easton Hall, Church Divinity School of the Pacific, 2451 Ridge Road, Berkeley, CA. For more information, email: whitneybauman@religionandecology.org

£1000 Student Essay Prize AnnouncedThe Darwin Correspondence Project will award a prize of £1000 for the best student essay on a specific topic in the field of science and religion. The prize essay will be published on the Darwin Correspondence Project's website. Deadline is June 1, 2008, submitted via email to Dr. Paul White: psw24@cam.ac.uk For more information, visit /www.darwinproject.ac.uk/

The University of Oxford’sIan Ramsey Centre and theCentre for Anthropology and Mind are accepting applications for research proposals in the area of Cognitive Science of Religion and Theology (£800,000 to award in total). Applications are invited from scholars of any nationality post-Masters level or equivalent and beyond. We seek proposals for focused, one- or two-year projects that address either the evidential needs of the cognitive science of religion or explore the philosophical and theological implications of assumptions and findings in the field.

An initial round of awards will be made in summer 2008. We anticipate awarding approximately 15 grants in this first round (including all four two-year grants in summer 2008) between June 2008 and May 2009.